Page 74 of Desperately Seeking Mr. Darcy

And the thing is, I actually mean it. Macey has made me happier than I’ve had any right to be lately.

She laughs softly. “And you have surprised me more than I can say.”

The way she says it, I think she might actually mean it too. I think we’ve both been surprised on this trip.

I take her by the hand, and we walk down the path.

“Hear! Hear!” one of the onlookers says, while everyone claps and whistles.

Normally, I’d expect Lady Catherine to shush the crowd, demanding some refinement or decorum, but instead, she joins in, clapping along with everyone else.

“Should we bow?” I ask Macey.

“I think we should,” she says.

MACEY

“ZANE?” I SAY AS I slip through the garden door, just like I did last night.

I look around but can’t seem to spot him in the dim lighting.

I feel someone grab me by the wrist, and my breath hitches as Zane spins me around, pushing me up against the brick wall, his lips finding mine as he kisses me soundly.

I’m really going to miss this place. Not Pride and Prejudice Park so much as this tiny walled garden. “Our garden,” as Zane referred to it in his terrible Darcy letter that I still need to get him back for.

Maybe someday Zane and I will get married, and we can build one of these in our backyard.

I’m getting ahead of myself. I don’t even know what’s going to happen between us when we return home. It’s possible this whole romance we’ve been having could be driven by the setting and the allure of defying Lady Catherine’s absurd rules against romantic pursuits, and it will all go away once we put our regular Zane and Macey clothes back on.

It’s hard to think that’s possible when Zane kisses a trail down my neck and to my collarbone.

I can’t worry about all that. We’ll figure it out later. For now, I want to stay in this moment with Zane as his lips once again find mine and he kisses me thoroughly at Pride and Prejudice Park.

MACEY

A letter from Macey to Zane, Saturday, September 21, 11:40 p.m.

Mr. Darcy,

I fear I shall be finding leaves and dirt in my hair for the foreseeable future, thanks to the brazen way you threw me up against that wall and kissed me thoroughly. Truly, I shall never forgive you for this.

Or forget it.

Yours,

Miss Bennet

“I WILL MISS YOU, MY darling girls,” Mrs. Bennet says as we sit at the table at Longbourn for the last time.

Today is my final day at Pride and Prejudice Park, and I have mixed feelings. I’ll miss living in this world—wearing the beautiful clothes and reenacting my favorite love story of all time. I won’t miss the corsets and Lady Catherine. That’s pretty much it. If I didn’t have to deal with either of those two things, they would probably have to drag me out of here.

I can’t believe it’s coming to an end. When I first found out I won this trip, it felt like my luck was finally changing—like I was handed something truly magical, just for me. And being here has been all of that and more. It has exceeded all my expectations and hopes. I’m sure Zane has something to do with it too.

“I’ll miss ya’ all too,” Kitty says, and Mary nods her head, agreeing.

“And I shall miss all of you dearly,” Jane says, her soft voice full of warmth. “But we must not dwell on partings when we still have this moment together. Let us treasure it, as I know I shall.”

Jane is being kind of a buzzkill here, as she stays in character, but we all nod around the table like she’s said the most profound thing.

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